Sometimes things change on a timeframe observable by living people. That doesn't necessarily make them unique historically. The cultural changes in the 60's differed hugely from the prevailing American culture in the 50's, certainly. However, with the possible exception of women's rights (although suffragetters had been around for a century by that point), how much of it was new to this planet?
Thinking that everything is hopelessly the same is a cruel and stupid fiction.
The difference now is that the consequences are more dire, simply due to the effect of all the dead dinosaurs we've burned over the past 150 years.[ Parent ]
The main difference now is that the consequences this time will be global. "Dire", as you termed it, could also be an understatement. Ocean acidification was the scariest thing I have read about in the past year, perhaps the past decade. Losing coral reefs would be bad enough, but losing plankton could pretty much lead to major changes in atmospheric oxygen concentrations (or basically, the loss of all aerobic life on the planet). Sea level rises and temperature change will be catastropic, but if we manage to screw up some of the really big, critical biological systems that keep this planet running, well, nuclear war isn't the only way to wipe out all life forms more complex than bacteria. [ Parent ]
